


Waking Up

by ghosthouses



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Post-Canon, Processing Trauma, sometimes it's funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-22 09:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22380601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthouses/pseuds/ghosthouses
Summary: Zelda finding herself again after the events of game.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> After the end of Breath of the Wild, I thought wow that girl is gonna have some stuff to deal with. This is basically just some short ficlets and drabbles about their post-canon adventures.
> 
> This is a wip, I have a few more ideas and would like to turn this into some actual romance at some point but no outline or clear plan yet.

Zelda had slept for one hundred years, in and out of restless nightmares, never alone. When it was over, she was exhausted. Their battle had drawn an audience and Link, just as tired, allowed them to be taken to Kakariko, where they could recover in safety, where he would permit himself to leave her side to sleep. 

But now out in the wild, Zelda walks for miles each day, she talks and eats and stretches her muscles and as the sun sets, her body wants her to rest and she dreads it. She does not want to go under willingly, she looks through Link's pictures on the Slate or counts the stars or listens to the dying fire until her eyes no longer open. 

Sometimes she's back in the Calamity, startled awake by cool morning air and the sound of birds. She has to touch herself and remember that she is solid and real again. 

Other times there’s no dreams, it’s just oblivion, somehow she wakes up feeling wrong and unrested, like she’s just skipped the night. 

One night while fighting sleep she remembers a night from before, after failing at the Spring of Power, crying in her tent. Her father had expressly forbidden Link from sharing her tent, an insult to his honor that he had tried to soften by implicating Zelda as the dangerous party. And Link obeyed, only willing to come inside when it was raining and Zelda could convince him that he would not be able to perform his duty if he was sick. Still, he slept at the tent entrance, as far from her as possible and probably very poorly. On the night she was recalling, the skies were clear and she had no excuse to call him inside. 

But he heard her and he came anyway and when she sat up and tried to dry her eyes he said, "Tell me what you need." And then, after a pause, "Please."

"I don't want to be alone," she said, reaching for him. He took her hand and came to lie next to her, letting her cry into his shoulder while he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She wept harder at first, but soon the knot untangled and she found sleep. 

And now, after it's all over, she misses that girl, who thought the worst thing she could experience would be being unable to fulfill her destiny. 

On another night, she sits at the edge of the cliff where they made camp, looking out at the ocean to the north, hoping the salty breeze will keep her awake. Link sits next to her after a while, it's not the first time he's sat up with her at night but now she thinks she has the words she needs. 

"What was it like for you, when you woke up? Could you sleep?"

"Not always. Too much energy. I would keep traveling."

"You didn't fear sleeping?"

"No."

She leans back against a tree and closes her eyes. 

"I think... I'm afraid of waking up. Or not waking up, of being trapped again. Of not being rested, when sleep stopped being restful for me for so long." She takes a deep breath. "I think I miss him, somehow, and I don't know what that means. I hate myself for it."

"Tell me what you need." Link says, softly and Zelda finds herself smiling, fondly, a surge in her chest almost bringing tears to her eyes. She puts her hand out to him and he takes it in his. 

"We could try that again."

That night she lets herself drift off to the sound of his breath and the warmth of arms, not alone, but safe, recovering, finally resting.


	2. Satori Mountain

One night as they made for the Outskirt Stable crossing Nima Plain, Zelda called his name and when he turned to follow her gaze he saw the gentle glow of Satori Mountain. His eyes lit up -- he'd never figured out the pattern for when they appeared. 

"What do you think it is?" She asked. 

"I'll show you," he said, turning his horse towards the mountain. 

"Link!"

He looked back to make sure that wasn't a cry of danger and that she had followed him, and satisfied with that, shot her a smile he knew would keep her patient until they got closer. 

When the path grew steeper, they dismounted and Link lead both horses by the reins in one hand. Zelda walked a little ahead of him, checking back a few times to confirm their path.

"Head for the light."

"You won't tell me what's there?"

Link shook his head. She frowned at him, but he saw in it a familiar energy, a youthful excitement that was now so often buried. 

He tied the horses near the shine at the top of the mountain and pointed to the path between two boulders. Zelda reached the start of it and then stopped with a little gasp; over her shoulder he saw one of the blue rabbit creatures was peacefully washing its ears in the grass in front of her. 

"What is it?"

"I don't know," he laughed. He came down to his knees, broke off a piece of carrot meant for the horses in his pack and held it out. The creature came to him almost instantly and began to nibble. Zelda gasped again, coming down carefully at his side.

"So trusting."

After a moment, she reached a hand out closer to the little creature, testing if she could touch it but it spooked at that, taking off back down the path. She sighed. 

Link stood and offered his hand. "There's more."

Zelda took it and kept it and he lead her down the path, around the boulder wall to the little spring and the cherry tree. Now she dropped his hand to cover her mouth with both of her own.

It was still breathtaking, the peaceful glow of the rabbits reflecting off the pond, the night air hushed, he still felt the awe of coming upon so precious a secret. The Lord of the Mountain's leaf-like ears twitched at their arrival, its many eyes moving out of sync to regard them, then the head turned, lifted and bowed slightly at recognition of Link. He nodded back. 

They sat and watched the spring in silence for a long time, Zelda pressed into Link's side, knees pulled up close, like she was scared she might break something if she took up too much space. They had a few rabbit visitors, who came to sniff at Link's pack and he ended up giving away most of the carrots. He tried to get Zelda to feed one but she shook her head.

After a while her weight became heavier and he lowered them to the grass to sleep, safer here than a stable. They woke with the dawn, alone. 

Link wanted to know what she thought, but the energy from yesterday was gone, she wasn't filling the silence the way he hoped. But she had a soft smile on her lips as they headed down off the mountain and before they returned to their saddles, she pressed his hand and said, "Thank you."


	3. Cooking

Link was not a good cook. He was an effective cook. He turned raw ingredients into edible things, he followed the long tradition of early Hylians who discovered cooked meat was safer and cooking vegetables made them easier to eat and both sustained you for longer. His food was serviceable, no more but sometimes less. 

Zelda, who had never cooked anything in her life but had been fed by the best chefs in the country, assumed that her stasis had ruined her taste for food. She had to stifle literal moans of pleasure the first time they had food prepared for them at a feast in Gerudo Town.

After that, she tackled the problem in her usual way: downloading recipes onto the Slate from the lab in Hateno and asking Link to help her prepare them. His technique was good with direction and once they acquired a few more utensils and spices even he was commenting on how much improved their creations were.

It was a great relief to know she'd never again have to look at a dubious combination of eggs, milk, flour and sugar thrown together in a wok and be expected to consider it a cake.


	4. Queen

Everyone knows Link. Old women pinch his cheeks and shove food into his arms. Young men nod at him with respect and younger men try to challenge him. Girls smile at him from afar. Even the dogs know him, they walk straight past their masters to greet him. And he is gracious with all of them. 

No one knows Zelda. Older folk make the connection because she's with Link, but young people smile politely and ask who she is, or frown and ask who she is and eventually either she or Link or a third party say her name.

More than once a precocious child has asked, "Princess of what?" and their guardian will admonish them with, "Why, Hyrule, of course. Everything." and the child will either eye her with suspicion or awe. 

These are not her people anymore. Not  _ her _ people, though she is one of them she is does not rule them.

"I've decided to abdicate my throne. I'm not going to become queen."

Link looked up at her from his plate across the campfire. His brow furrowed and she continued.

"It's not modesty. I know my value. But we don't need a queen. I was worried when I came back that I would find Hyrule lawless, ruled by warring gangs or under the iron fist of some despot but it's not. People are at peace, they govern themselves and have thrived while Ganon slept. What purpose is there in forcing them under the rule of a family they haven't known for one hundred years?

"We need better communication between the races and the cities, for sure. And the monopoly the stables have right now on inns is very troubling and needs to be broken up." She caught Link's grin at that "I'd like to moderate those sorts of discussions, as a neutral party. I think that's where I'd be most useful."

Link watched her for a second, then nodded. Zelda swallowed and added. "It means, though, you are no longer my knight. If there's something else you'd -- "

"No. I am bound to you."

"No, Link, you --"

"Yes." He held her gaze until she couldn't bear it any longer, and turned away, feeling the heat in her cheeks.

"Alright. I would have been sad to see you go, of course. I should... I would like to pay you for your services, at least." 

Link looked incredulous when she turned to him again, and she remembered his house in Hateno, the treasure hoards from his adventures and seemingly bottomless rupee wallets. And that she had nothing but her name and a smoldering castle, both of which she had just announced she would give up. 

"It's the principle of the thing!" She said as he started to laugh. 

"As you wish, your highness."

"Zelda." 

"...Zelda," he agreed, after a hesitation. 


End file.
